BUENOS AIRES -- Those Europeans tempted by populist politics should see in Latin America an avoidable future: the empty shelves in Venezuela while its government finds funds to support populist party Podemos in Spain or the stagflation in Argentina that hurts the poor while the sitting vice president is twice indicted for embezzlement. These are not accidents; they are the logical consequences of authoritarian regimes that think themselves beyond reproach or term limits.

For the moment what matters for the vast majority of Greek people is that for the first time they feel they have a government which, despite its compromises, has proved that it made its best effort to bring Europe back to the table for a fair and equal negotiation about the terms of the Greek bailout program.

As I walked up the familiar steps and entrance everything seemed as it had been during my time as a student. The inside, however, was quite different and the courtyard was bathed in light, still surrounded by some familiar artwork.

BRUSSELS -- Some people say that in an agreement you also have to make some concessions. But as a matter of principle, between the oppressor and the oppressed there can be no compromise, as there can be no compromise between the slave and the tyrant. Freedom is the only solution.

Led by Alexis Tsipras, head of Greece's newly-elected, left-wing coalition, some other leading political lights in Europe - Messrs. Hollande and Valls in France and Renzi in Italy - are raising a big stink about fiscal austerity. Yet they always fail to define austerity. Never mind. They don't like it.

Reading and watching news of Syriza party's attempts to renegotiate a bailout agreement with the EU and ease austerity in what they term a humanitarian crisis for the Greek people, I've traded doubt and discomfort for a new feeling: respect.

If Greece leaves Europe, the EU dream will be gone for good. Second, other European countries like Portugal, Spain and Ireland, also under the humiliations of debt, might imitate Greece and exit the EU. It's in the political interests of the U.S. to intervene decisively and prevent the break up of the Western world.

The new era of Greece in the European Union will have to bring equality, stability and fairness in its relationship with its partners. The country has spent far too much capital to remain inside the Eurozone and owes it to itself, and its citizens, to conclude a program that will provide an appropriate balance of budgetary stability and development.

The fiscal adjustment we have accomplished was done much less through reform, i.e. reorganizing the management of our country, public sector and economy, and more through cuts and taxes. However this has placed an inordinate burden on the middle class, it has created an army of young unemployed and many households are under the poverty line.

The new Greek government needs support in establishing pro-growth policies which create jobs, expand their economy and enable them to pay down their debts. Demanding that creditors are paid before any of that is allowed to happen may come at a very heavy price for more than just the people of Greece.

The Economist's Feb. 6 cover displayed the Venus de Milo statue pointing a revolver, with the headline "Go ahead, Angela, make my day." In the editors' upside-down world, Greece is threatening Europe, or at least Germany. Really?

Dr. Paul Krugman, the hyper-productive New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate, has produced a flood of fiscal factoids. He argues that the only way to put the major economies around the world back on track is to "stimulate" them via deficit-financed government spending.

People keep asking me what I think about Europe's most recent crisis (read: Greece). Well, my sentiments are exactly the same as they were in April 2012, when my Globe Asia column was titled: "China and Greece - Here We Go Again."